Friday, February 5, 2010

Oddball styling ...

If you fancy standing out from the crowd, then a used Tribeca may fit the bill. If you can live with oddball styling.

The Subaru B9 Tribeca is far from being a pretty car, and its name — that of a ritzy neighbourhood in Manhattan — doesn’t suit it at all. Thanks to the ravages of depreciation, though, it is now beginning to look like a good go-anywhere, carry-anything family holdall.

Launched in the UK in November 2006, the Tribeca had already proven to be something of a hit in North America, where its combination of practicality (it can be bought with seven seats) and pricing made it an attractive alternative to top-notch European 4x4s such as the BMW X5 and Volvo XC90. UK consumers proved a tougher crowd to win over, though. Unlike the gas-guzzling US market, the British one demands diesel SUVs, and without a diesel-powered engine in the range, the Tribeca didn’t stand much of a chance against cheaper alternatives from Citroën, Ford, Peugeot, Renault and Vauxhall.

As quietly as the Tribeca appeared in UK showrooms, so too it vanished in mid-2009 with barely a murmur. After three years of faltering sales, the company’s flagship model was consigned to the UK car market’s history books. Clearly, that was far from great news for the few who bought a new Tribeca, but today those shopping for a well-built, distinctive SUV at sensible money — from £12,000 — may find it holds more appeal.

But before you go thinking that’s a lot of car for not a lot of money, consider the running costs.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

20-signatory letter in Daily Telegraph today calling for biomedical research into ME

On the MEA website today:

Saturday, 06 February 2010 07:54 A joint letter appealing for the nation to start taking ME seriously appears in The Daily Telegraph today. It is signed by 20 leading figures in the ME debate – including parliamentarians, clinicians, researchers and figures from the ME national organisations and patient support groups.

Breaking the ME enigma

SIR – The death of Lynn Gilderdale and the humane verdict in the trial of her mother brought home to many people for the first time what a devastating illness myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) can be.

Many of the estimated quarter of a million people with ME in Britain experience not only extreme pain and disability, but also incomprehension, ignorance, lack of sympathy and at times outright hostility, not only from the public but also from professionals responsible for their care.

Such lack of understanding even extends to blaming parents for the severity of their child’s illness.

It is time the nation began to take ME seriously. Provision of adequate clinical and other services by properly informed and sympathetic professionals is currently subject to a postcode lottery. Such provision should avoid inappropriate treatments, and range from support for home tuition for school-age children to respite care for the severely affected.

Above all, we should fund biomedical research to resolve the enigma of the underlying pathology of this illness. We should build on recent scientific advances to develop effective treatments, so that no one in future need experience the pain, isolation and despair that were Lynn Gilderdale’s fate.

"Plenty of people are still dying of diseases which other people do not believe." (Dr. M.N.C. Dukes).CBT and GET for ME: "There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity."

Robertson Davies

THE NICEGUIDELINES BLOG VERSUS THE NICEGUIDELINES

These are NOT the NICEGuidelines. This is "The NICEGUIDELINES BLOG." What are the differences:

The NICE Guidelines are biased publications based on the GOBSART (Good Old Boys Sitting Around a Table) approach.

This Blog however is not only evidence based but also uses critical reading to judge papers and articles. I also use common sense and listen to others. And finally I read both psychiatric and medical evidence and opinions from around the world to come to a conclusion.

I’m not sponsored by anybody or paid by whatever company as seems to be the norm with many psycho people who publish the same article almost on a weekly base.

So if you value an opinion, formed as a result of participating in many ME activities, for example being bed bound for years, you have come to the right BLOG. All these activities have allowed me to form an opinion as a Doctor and as a Patient. And that is important as the voice of the latter is discarded by many including NICE.

If you don’t read this blog, you will miss out on “accredited” medical education. If you do read it, you may actually become a doctor who doesn’t stop thinking or forgets to ask critical questions. Many good things, including satisfied patients are at your command.

So, if you arrived here for the straightforward GOBSART approach, I will disappoint you. If you are interested in forming your own opinion about ME, and other interesting things, read on!

About Dr. Speedy.

I am a Family Physician or GP as it is called in Australia or the UK. I am also an ME patient unfortunately. Bedbound that is. So at the moment I’m in private practice so to speak. I’ve got only one patient, ME, or is it me?

I graduated as a doctor a long time ago, and I am the founder and editor of The NICEGUIDELINES BLOG, an internet based ME BLOG that is devoted to critical reading and cheering you or ME up.

I have the following conflict of interest: I would like to get better and see that the wasting of public money on CBT (talk therapy for a neurological disease, really helpful) and other silly therapies for ME stops, and will be used in better ways.

My goal has always been to help, and if possible, cure patients. With this disease you will soon find out that many psychiatrists and psychologists are only in it to make money and get their name in the spotlight. And what happens to and with the patients is irrelevant.

I stand to benefit both mentally, physically and also financially if this silliness would stop, and I would get my health back, and I can go back to work and have a normal life again. Please evaluate my postings with this in mind! And remember, there are also (lots of) psychiatrists and psychologists who haven’t switched their brain off.